Tag Archives: retiree

When I left my job for the last time, I drove away with a tear in my eye. I played a sad song on the CD player, drove down the street, and prayed that I made the right decision. My mind still wanted to work, but my body was tired. Job stress was affecting my health. When I was younger, I could ignore or shake off the stress. In my mid 50s, I started feeling the effects of stress. I had to make a choice between the nice paychecks and my health/life. I had worked so long and hard to establish my career, and advance through the corporate ranks. I didn’t want to give it up, but I had to. I did not want to push the limits, and end up on a gurney in an emergency vehicle heading to the hospital! I wanted to walk away on my own terms with my head held high.

We got up at 5:30 am on Saturday morning to attend a retirement planning seminar. The most important advice imparted by the speaker was the following: Retirees should have 2 – 3 years worth of living expenses stashed away for emergencies! Why? The reason is that it takes 3 years (on average) to recover from a bear market. What is a bear market? Think back to the Autumn of 2008, when the stock market dropped 50% over a 6 month period of time from September 29, 2008 to March 5, 2009. That was the beginning of the bear market. The speaker said that it usually takes about 3 years for the economy to recover from a bear market. Therefore, it is crucial to retirees’ survival to have 2 – 3 years of living expenses to pay bills, and stay afloat. If a retiree has to spend down their retirement accounts to pay bills, they may have to sell stocks or mutual funds at depressed prices. In farmer parlance, that is called “eating your seed corn.”

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